When I was a child growing up on The Jersey Shore, we often heard stories of the so-called "Jersey Devil" and that one had to be careful when traipsing around the Pine Barrens lest we inadvertently run into the monster...it was our own 'local' bogeyman!
The Jersey Devil is a legendary creature said to inhabit the Pine Barrens of Southern New Jersey and the Jersey Shore. The creature is often described as a flying biped with hooves, but there are many variations. The Jersey Devil has worked its way into the pop culture of the area, even lending its name to the National Hockey League Team (NHL), the New Jersey Devils, three time Stanley Cup Champions.
Most accounts of the Jersey Devillegend attribute the creature to a "Mother Leeds", a supposed witch, although the tale has many variations. According to one version, she invoked the devil while giving birth to her 13th child, and when the baby was born, it either immediately or soon afterwards transformed into a devil-like creature or flew off into the surrounding pines.
"Sightings" of the Jersey Devil have been reported for almost 200 years. The most famous was by Joseph Bonaparte, King of Spain and eldest brother of Emperor Napoleon, is said to have witnessed the Jersey Devil while hunting on his Bordentown, New Jersey estate around 1820.
The Jersey Devil has been "featured" in many television shows including The X-Files, The Real Adventures of Johnny Quest, Animal Planetcrypto zoological series Lost Tapes, Extreme Ghostbusters and Paranormal State featured an investigation for the Jersey Devil.
The SyFy Channel show Destination Truth investigated the Jersey Devil in a 2010 episode. A night-vision camera captured an unidentified airborne creature, and the team dismissed many ground sightings of the Jersey Devil to be fleeting glimpses of deer...or maybe not!
And the legend continues.....
Karl Hess, Your Real Estate Expert on the Jersey Shore
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